50 armed men in camou flak jackets driving armored cars cordoned off the roads leading to a transportation company's office in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay (a "smugglers' haven in the border region with Brazil and Argentina"), blew the entire face of the building up with demolition equipment, stole an estimated $40M and escaped by motorboat up the Parana River.
One policeman was killed.
The heist is being blamed on the PCC ("First Capital Command"), a notorious gang founded in Brazil's overcrowded prisons.
After the robbery, Brazilian police tracked some of the alleged assailants close to Foz de Iguazu, Brazil. A shootout there left at least three gunmen dead. Four others have been arrested, according to Paraguayan officials. The Paraguayan government tweeted out photos of some of the slain gunmen lying in the grass, wearing what appeared to be camouflage.
Brazilian prison gang suspected in Paraguay's 'heist of the century'
[Joshua Partlow/Washington Post]
(via Super Punch)
Ciudad del Este heist seen as 'robbery of the century' https://t.co/dtKkc3g2FG pic.twitter.com/3znyCr2iBf
— Speak Truth to Power (@SpeakT2P) April 25, 2017
